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Chicago Murder Epidemic

June 7, 2017

Two boys, ages 15 and 16, were killed in a shooting Wednesday morning in the North Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side, according to Chicago police. At about 9 a.m., the teenagers were standing on the sidewalk in the 1200-block of South Lawndale when a masked suspect armed with a rifle got out of a…

May 31, 2017

The cop who came to Rashawnda Rice’s house on Memorial Day didn’t get very far.

“He just asked, is this JoJo’s house?” the 19-year-old college student recalled on Tuesday.

She looked out the front door and saw red tape around an area of Euclid Park. Then she took off running. She knew her older brother, Jervon Morris — about three months shy of 21 — had been at the park playing basketball, just like he was every day.

Just as suddenly as she broke into a sprint, she stopped in her tracks. She could tell it was her brother lying on the ground, a bullet wound to the head.

“From his shoes,” she said through tears.

Morris was one of seven people killed over the Memorial Day weekend. In all, 52 people were shot, down from 71 a year ago. One of the city’s most violent police districts, Harrison on the West Side, recorded no shootings.

All that was little comfort to Rice.

Her brother was legally blind, though he retained a sliver of eyesight, about enough to see shadows and blurs, Rice and her uncle Deryl Young told the Tribune. He had other physical impairments, such as trouble with his strength and with walking, Young said. It was anyone’s guess how he taught himself to hoist up the basketball and hurl it at a hoop he could hardly see, but through determination he made it work.

He could read Braille and was a graduate of Curie High School, where his favorite class was “Mobility,” which aims to teach special needs students skills such as how to get around the city using public transportation. He had been volunteering with the Chicago Park District since his graduation nearly two years ago, his family said.

“He did this job fair and he met someone at the job fair who worked at a park district and they were disabled,” Rice said. “And he figured, if he can do it, I can do it, too.”
He had been working on a resume so he could get a paying job with the park district this year. He loved interacting with kids and doing things like pushing the younger kids on the swings, Rice said.

Morris loved “The Fast and the Furious” movies, the dancing in the movie “You Got Served,” and the color blue. He loved spending time with his grandmother Betty Hudson, who shares the family home and will turn 99 this summer. And he adored Young’s dogs: A German shepherd named Rocky and a Yorkshire terrier named Mercedes, both of which died a few months ago, Young said.

Rocky died first, of natural causes, and Mercedes died after being attacked by another dog at the same park where Morris was killed.

“Jervon was so upset about that. He was walking her when it happened. A pit bull came up and attacked her, and of course he couldn’t see the dog to get it off of her, so he brought her home and called me and my wife up.

“We were both at work and we rushed home, but we couldn’t do anything for her, she was dead,” Young said. “He was really quiet, you know, he doesn’t talk very much. He told us everything that happened that day. But he didn’t know who the dog was or the person that had him. He couldn’t see him.”

Young said the neighborhood, which he’s always considered safe, started changing a bit about a year ago. Shootings started happening closer to home, even in some play areas, but never in Euclid Park that the family knew of.

“Nothing like this has ever happened before – the shootings,” Young said. “They got to get that taken care of, the Chicago Police Department. But now he’s gone, it won’t bring him back.”

Police found more than one type of shell casings at the scene – which they said was about 300 yards long, or three football field lengths, from north to south – and that extended the entire distance of the park from east to west.

Authorities said they believe there was an exchange of gunfire and Morris, who along with his limited sight also was hearing impaired, was caught in the crossfire.
“He can’t even see, so he definitely didn’t know how to get out of the way,” Young said. “He didn’t know to duck.”

The timing of the shooting, just before 6 p.m., came at a time when Morris typically would have been home from volunteering, but he wasn’t working with the park district this Monday because of the holiday. Morris was likely drawn in by a basketball game playing out where he usually practiced and when the gunfire erupted, he tried to run home, police said.

Any other day, and the family would’ve been about to sit down for dinner of greens and pot roast, Young said, though Rice said Morris’ favorite food was pizza puffs. Instead, the Youngs were at a cousin’s house and Rice was home with Hudson when the policeman came to the door. The 19-year-old had to call her mom and later a brother and sister, and explain what she saw in the park.

“I got through those phone calls and I couldn’t call anyone else,” she said. “I couldn’t do it again. It hurt so much.”
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Article Org: chicagotribune.com

May 18, 2017

CBS, Two men have been charged with murder in connection with a fatal shooting on the Eisenhower Expressway last year. State Police Director Leo Schmitz said 24-year-old Devon Almon, a documented gang member, was killed on Sept. 29, 2016, while riding in a car in the inbound lanes of Interstate 290 near Central Avenue, shortly…

May 14, 2017

Maggio News Video, This is what young people of one south side neighborhood sound like, they are plagued by the terror of shootings and the murder of their friends. Very sad.

Three people were killed and at least 13 others have been wounded in shootings across Chicago since Friday evening.

The most recent fatal shooting happened about 2:35 a.m. Sunday in the West Garfield Park neighborhood. Two men, ages 24 and 25, were stopped at a light while driving south on Cicero Avenue at Madison Street when a black Chevrolet pulled up and someone inside opened fire in their direction, according to Chicago police. The men then turned west on Madison and their vehicle struck a disabled person in a wheelchair.

The 24-year-old suffered gunshot wounds to the back and right arm and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The 25-year-old was shot in the body and pronounced dead at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, police said. The male in a wheelchair, whose age was not provided, was taken to Stroger Hospital with injuries that were not thought to be life-threatening.

The weekend’s first fatal shooting happened at 8:36 p.m. Saturday in the Fernwood neighborhood on the Far South Side. A male walked up to a 17-year-old boy in the 10500-block of South Lafayette Avenue and opened fire, police said. The boy suffered gunshot wounds to his back and chest, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office has not provided information on any of the homicides.

The weekend’s latest nonfatal shooting happened about 3:45 a.m. Sunday on the Kennedy Expressway on the North Side, according to Illinois State Police. A woman was shot in the leg while driving in the outbound lanes of I-90/94 near Fullerton. The woman was transported to Presence Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center in good condition with a wound to the leg, the Chicago Fire Department said.

About 3:10 a.m., a 45-year-old man was wounded in a shooting on the South Side, on the border between the Princeton Park and Longwood Manor neighborhoods. The man got into an argument with someone in the 100-block of West 95th Street when a male exited a vehicle and fired shots, striking him in the right side of the abdomen, police said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

At least 11 other people have been wounded in separate shootings across Chicago since 9 p.m. Friday.

The city recorded its 200th homicide on Tuesday, according to Chicago Sun-Times data. More than 1,100 people have been shot in Chicago this year.

Last weekend, six people were killed and 26 more wounded in city shootings.

May 14, 2017

Two men were killed in a shooting early Sunday in the West Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side, police said. The men, ages 24 and 25, stopped at a light about 2:35 a.m. while traveling southbound on Cicero Avenue at Madison Street when a black Chevrolet pulled up and someone inside opened fire in…

May 13, 2017

An 18 year old woman was killed Friday night when a 24 year old woman repeatedly rammed her into a tree with her vehicle in the Morgan Park neighborhood on the Far South Side. About 11:10 p.m., the older woman got into her vehicle following an argument and chased the younger woman down a sidewalk…

May 12, 2017

A 22-year-old man died Wednesday, almost four months after he was shot in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side. Just after 8 p.m. Jan. 21, Mack McClinton and a 17-year-old boy were walking out of an alley in the 300 block of South California when someone shot them from a dark-colored vehicle,…

May 11, 2017

A 16 year old boy accused of murdering a Roseland man during a botched robbery in December is being held in juvenile detention. Quenten Wright, 53, was shoveling snow about 11:45 a.m. Dec. 12 when he was fatally shot in his head and both arms in the 11400 block of South King Drive. Police said…

May 11, 2017

A street sign is all that is left of a young mans life. its been a decade since this hero was shot and killed, and yet nothing has changed on the violent streets of Chicago. At 103rd and Elizabeth streets in Chicago’s Washington Heights neighborhood, a street sign has been replaced with the name of…

May 9, 2017

A reputed Chicago gang member pleaded guilty on the eve of trial to a charge of illegally carrying a handgun linked to the shootings of two children, including the high-profile slaying of 7-year-old Amari Brown on the Fourth of July 2015. Demond Coffee, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm…

May 9, 2017

The City of Chicago has reached an all too familiar milestone the 200th homicide has arrived along with spring. So far, this year 190 of the 200 homicides recorded are people that were shot and killed 919 people have been wounded in shootings across the city. As of May, 5th 2017, 1109 people have been…

May 8, 2017

A 24-year-old retired Marine was killed after trying to stop a carjacker in west suburban Oak Park Sunday night, police said. Christopher Florez, his girlfriend Veronica Licea, and Licea’s young daughter left their 2016 Dodge Challenger running outside a Jewel in the 7000-block of Roosevelt Road while browsing Redbox around 6:40 p.m. That’s when an…

May 5, 2017

A teen has been charged in last summer’s killing of a Chicago police officer’s son, who was fatally shot hours before he was to return to college in New York City, according to police. Anthony Moore, 18, of the 7900 block of South Sawyer Avenue, is charged with murder in the death of Arshell “Trey”…

April 30, 2017

A 21-year-old woman was beaten and strangled before her body was found a dumpster last month in the South Side Grand Crossing neighborhood, authorities have found. A garbage collector found Diamond Turner about 12:30 p.m. on March 3 in the 7300-block of South Kenwood, according to Chicago police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.…

April 29, 2017

A second man has been charged in the murder of a Cook County judge in Chicago, police announced Thursday. Earl Wilson, whose address and age were not immediately known, is charged with the murder of Judge Raymond Miles, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Thursday. Guglielmi says Wilson was the gunman. A press conference will…

April 26, 2017

A Cook County jury has found Bernard Williams guilty of murdering off-duty Chicago Police Officer David Blake in 2010. The jury reached its verdict about 5 p.m. Tuesday after nearly four hours of deliberation. Williams was also found guilty of armed robbery and discharging a firearm. “Dave [Blake] was a very nice guy. Very unassuming.…

April 21, 2017

A $5,000 reward is being offered in the case of three young men who were found shot to death in a car in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood. The three were found near 86th and Throop last month. On Thursday, the victims’ relatives and other people canvased the area for information about the shootings. They went…

April 20, 2017

A 33-year-old man was charged Tuesday in the shooting death of another man near a CTA Red Line station. Police said Fredrick Stewart got into an argument with the victim around 2:40 a.m. Monday near the Garfield station in the 200-block of West Garfield Boulevard in Chicago’s Fuller Park neighborhood. The victim was identified Tuesday…

April 19, 2017

A 22-year-old woman was killed late Tuesday night in a shooting in Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood. The victim’s family said she was out with friends and had just been dropped off near East 107th Street and South Indiana Avenue when she was shot several times around 11:35 p.m. Police found her lying on the sidewalk, face…

April 17, 2017

A man was shot and killed on a CTA Red Line platform on the South Side early Monday, Chicago police said. The 33-year-old victim was shot in the head and chest inside the Garfield Station on the Red Line in the 200-block of West Garfield Avenue at about 2:39 a.m., police said. Police said the…